1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a cork pulling device, specifically whereby corks can be comfortably, easily and safely pulled from bottles having a range of different sized tops, particularly those corks in wine bottles.
2. Description of Prior Art
Removal of a cork from a wine bottle requires a tool designed for cork removal. Early cork pulling tools were comprised of a simple handle attached to a screw designed to turn into the cork. The great physical effort necessary to pull a cork from a bottle led to the application of mechanical advantage to the task. Subsequently, many systems of mechanical advantage have evolved from the basic screw and handle of the oldest designs. It is our belief that none of the cork screw pullers providing mechanical advantage for pulling a cork work well on a range of bottle top sizes. Standard bottle tops are considered to be those found in cork finish wine bottles holding volumes from 375 milliliters to 1.5 liters.
Recently a wine bottle style with a widened flange at the top has been gaining popularity among many bottlers of wine. Rather than a traditional capsule to protect the cork, the widened flange bottle employs a simple paper disc which is sometimes stuck to the cork top with beeswax. Use of the widened flange bottle with the disc to protect the cork evolved after tin/lead capsules were withdrawn from use for environmental reasons.
Because of the widened flange on these bottles, it is our belief that no currently employed mechanically advantaged cork puller fits the widened flange bottle top in a safe and satisfactory way. However, the two prong pullers and the old style of a simple screw attached to a handle will fit into a cork seated in a widened flange bottle top, and will extract the cork, assuming the pulling force is adequate.
The widely used "waiter's" corkscrew employs a levered screw as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,31 issued to Cellini (1991). The support elements of such lever body corkscrews concentrate force on a small area of the bottle top, are not stable on the widened flange bottle tops and can slip, sometimes causing the glass of the flange to chip.
Cork screws employing two semi-cylindrical bottom members, as shown in an embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,779 issued to Lee (1988)(46, FIG. 4), will not fit over the widened flange bottles or on wine bottle tops larger than the 1.5 liter size. This type of corkscrew requires a person to be strong enough to grasp the semicylindrical bottom members of the device very firmly with one hand, clamping them against the bottle neck sufficiently tightly to keep the bottle and the mechanism from rotating, and to keep the shoulders of the mechanism locked under the rim of the bottle top as the cork is withdrawn.
Wine bottles come in a variety of sizes closed with a range of cork sizes. That range includes the Jeroboam which holds the equivalent of six 750 milliliter bottles. We believe that no corkscrew applying substantial mechanical force safely and effectively seats on a range of bottle top sizes to pull corks of a range of dimensions. Ingenuity, experience, and perseverance are required to remove the cork from the big bottles and the new widened flange bottle tops without breaking the cork or chipping the bottle, if the device in hand will remove the cork at all.
The simple screws attached to a handle, which design predates the days of patents, provide no mechanical advantage to the pulling action. The simple screw on a handle requires substantial upward pulling strength combined with the strength to hold the bottle down. When a cork is tightly seated, the abrupt force of the cork giving way suddenly can cause spillage.
The two prong cork extractors built on the principles shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,076 issued to Szumacher (1975) will work on any bottle corked with standard sizes of corks, however, the prongs do not spread to straddle larger corks. When a cork is very tight, prongs sometimes twist; their vertical orientation can distort. The two prong cork extractor does break the seal that develops between a cork and the inside of a bottle neck, and provides a relatively small mechanical advantage in turning by means of the essentially T shaped handle. The prongs can push the cork down into the contents of the bottle when not precisely inserted to slide between the bottle neck and the cork. If both of the prongs are not accurately inserted between cork and bottle neck, one can stab a finger of the hand holding the bottle top. The prongs sometimes score the inside of the bottle neck when inserted, and can cause the bottle neck to break off as the cork is pulled, especially if the pulling force is not applied axially. This breakage exposes the consumer to a dangerous broken bottle top just as the hand and arm are exerting the pulling force necessary to extract the cork.
The glass of the neck of a bottle scored by a two prong cork extractor and then recycled for washing and reuse sometimes breaks during the process of refilling the bottle. When a corking machine drives the compressed cork into a scored bottle, breakage sometimes occurs along the curved line of the score in the glass caused by a pronged extractor. Bottling personnel are then exposed to the jagged edge of the broken bottle top, and wine is lost.
Recycling and washing bottles for reuse is an important environmental and economic part of the wine industry's conservation program. Rewashed bottles also offer an attractive economic advantage over new ones. Energy required to melt and remake broken glass into new bottles is saved. Energy to transport broken glass from recycling centers to distant factories, and to then transport new bottles from those factories back to where wine is bottled exceeds that required for transportation of bottles for rewashing at regional facilities near wine bottling facilities. Landfill space where glass is not recycled is also conserved when bottles are sound and can be reused. Two prong cork extractors and other cork pullers which chip or break wine bottles impact on the soundness of the supply of reusable bottles.
The two lever Italian design made by Campagnolo of Vicenza Italy (Corkscrews for Collectors, Watney and Babbidge, 1993, p. 147., pl.160.) has a sleeve that pulls down over the neck of the bottle to give some stability when a person's hands must leave the bottle to pull down the levers on each side of the device. With two levered cork pullers, both hands must be on the device, leaving the bottle vulnerable to being knocked over. Even though the Campagnolo cork puller is massive in size (Ibid), there is no indication that it pulls corks from a range of bottle top sizes larger than standard, or that it will seat on a widened flange bottle top.
Bench mounted uncorking machines made on the principles shown in English patent 18,006 issued to Chambers (1903) do not seat property on bottle tops larger than the standard sizes. They do not fit over a range of bottle top sizes or on the widened flange bottle tops. The bell shaped housings of corkscrews such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,678 issued to Pracht (1987) do not fit a range of bottle top sizes or widened flange bottle tops.
Rigidity is built in the multi-levered cork puller shown in French patent 649,209 issued to Bart (1928). A spring located inside of the pull handle where the top levers meet keeps the device in the closed position when it is at rest or in storage. However, the spring works against the mechanical advantage of the levers when pulling action extending the device is applied, diminishing the efficiency of the device. The overlapping of the top lever links at the central pin in the cast handle further reinforces the rigidity of the device. The lever links are all the same length, none offering sufficient length to provide leverage for the hand turning the screw into the cork.
Barr's corkscrew is flat, cumbersome to hold, and awkward for the hand in all actions necessary for insertion and turning of the screw. The flange that seats on the bottle top pivots laterally. It lacks connections that would stabilize it directly over the bottle top during insertion of the screw and during pulling. The lack of a centered screw and a seat positioned directly over the bottle top prevents true axial direction of pull. We have observed in testing two copies of this French cork puller that the side thrust that develops causes force to be exerted on the screw shaft exceeding its strength, leading to metal fatigue and breakage of the screw just below the connecting shaft. This French cork puller accommodates only standard bottle top sizes, and does not fit widened flange top bottles or bottle top sizes larger than standard.
The use of lazy tong linkage in cork pulling devices is already known. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,497, Daviddi (1989) employs lazy tong linkage in a mechanism for removing a cork from a champagne bottle. The rigidly vertical construction of the pull handle prohibits the hand from comfortably providing necessary stability in positioning the device in order to pull the cork.
U.S Pat. No. 747,351 issued to Armstrong (1908) shows a lazy tongs cork puller. The handle projects vertically preventing the palm of the hand from closely grasping the device to turn the screw into a cork to take full advantage of the elongated top levers of the lazy tongs system. The seat, does not accommodate a range of bottle top sizes or the widened flange bottle.
The French lazy tong linkage cork puller marked PERFECT (Corkscrews For Collectors, Watney & Babbidge, 1993, pl. 56) has a flanged seat that does not accommodate bottles other than those of standard sizes, nor can it accommodate widened flange top bottles. The barely open helix of the screw and its relatively short length do not provide sufficient bearing surface for the screw in the cork. Such a screw often pulls out of the cork, reaming out its center. The handle of the PERFECT is a simple rod giving no comfort to the pulling fingers. The links are flat and do not curve to fit the hand when turning the device into a cork.